Autos

Don't forget to check tires--especially after 6 years

May 27, 2005|By Jim Mateja

If you purchased your vehicle on or before this date in 1999, put down the paper and head to the nearest tire store to replace your radials--even the spare.

The reason is that Ford found tires deteriorate with age, and have trouble holding air after about six years. Further, the rubber compound becomes brittle and the tread could separate. So says John Baldwin, a Ford safety scientist.

Ford issued a replacement advisory on its www.ford.com Web site a few weeks ago. Now it will print the advisory in the owner's manual of each vehicle it builds, starting with 2006 models this fall.

"Tires degrade over time, even when not being used," Ford said in its warning. "It's recommended tires generally be replaced after six years of normal service. Heat caused by hot climates or frequent high loading conditions can accelerate the aging process."

Since the owner's manual is the least-read book printed, it may take consumers six years to get the message.

Ford spokesman Dan Jarvis said automakers in Europe have long advised changing tires every six years, but this is the first time a U.S. automaker has. "And the message is simple, after six years tires are perishable," Jarvis said.

Thanks to wear, most consumers probably will replace the tires on their vehicle before six years, Jarvis said, so the warning is especially applicable to those only-to-church-on-Sunday motorists as well as those with a collectible that's driven only a few times each year.

Before you race to send an angry e-mail to Ford about how much a set of four new radials plus the spare will set you back, this is simply a recommendation, not a mandate or even a dictate.

"Consider it a caution," Jarvis says.

In the early 1990s Firestone tires tended to separate, particularly on Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicles, causing accidents, injuries and deaths. Ford initially blamed the problem on older and underinflated tires run in hot climates. Jarvis insisted this episode had no influence on Ford's decision to add the "caution" to the owner's manual.

Firestone had to recall those tires, and Ford dropped it as a supplier for its vehicles. But Ford did find use for them. Many were pulverized and made into the synthetic turf that graces Ford Field, home of the NFL's Detroit Lions who are owned by William Clay Ford, father of Ford Chairman Bill Ford.

Kruze is close: Jerry Robbin, organizer of the inaugural ChiTown Kruze, expects up to 2,000 cars in the parade of antique, vintage and collectible wheels along Lake Shore Drive from 8 to 10 a.m. on June 4.

The Kruze will run from 31st Street to Bryn Mawr Avenue.

After the parade, up to 750 collectible cars will be displayed from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Soldier Field south parking lot.

Viewing the Kruze is free, but the show costs $5 for adults, with kids 12 and under free, said Robbin, president of the International Mercury Owners Association.

The Kruze was patterned after the annual Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit that for years has attracted an estimated 40,000 cars and 1.7 million viewers.

Registration and details are available at chitownkruze.com.

To the rescue: Ford is teaming with the government to rescue wild mustangs. Ford is providing an undisclosed sum to transport 2,000 mustangs living on land managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to facilities where they can be given care rather than sent to slaughter. To make a donation, visit savethemustangs.org.

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Read Jim Mateja Sunday in Transportation and Wednesday and Friday in Business. Hear him on WBBM-AM 780 at 6:22 p.m. Wednesdays and 11:22 a.m. Sundays.